


Good

by Maitimiel



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eleven never disappeared, Gen, everybody is protective of Eleven, mostly - Freeform, she just went to the hospital for a while and all was good, the kids are fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8887846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maitimiel/pseuds/Maitimiel
Summary: The Wheelers go pay the Byers a visit, after everyone has left the Hospital.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celaenos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/gifts).



The sweet scent of freshly baked cookies left the house smelling like Christmas even after the sweets had already cooled on the rack and been carefully wrapped in parchment paper. Nancy's mom nestled them between the fruit cake she had frosted earlier that morning and the chocolate pie she had baked the night before. The cookies were flavored with vanilla and ginger and some fancy pineapple essence they had found during their last shopping trip to Gary. It was an awful amount of sugar for Nancy's taste, but her mother hadn't wanted to take a casserole. 

Nancy had gathered an assortment of clothes that no longer fitted well, but that might be just the right size for Eleven. The girl wasn't that much younger than her, but she was much skinnier, for reasons Nancy would prefer not to think too much about. Nancy had picked a collection of both dresses and pants, not sure of what El would like better. She had stuffed them inside a large tote bag, which was by her side on the bottom step of the staircase, where she had been waiting for Mike for almost twenty minutes now. She glanced at her mother but got nothing but an impatient lifting of eyebrows as her mom fiddled with a crying Holly. 

"Miiiiike, come on!" Nancy yelled, frustrated, but her brother didn't answer. 

By the sound of it, he seemed to be tearing his room apart piece by piece. Leaving her bag on the floor, she stomped upstairs, ready to drag him if need be, but when she reached the front of his door, he came out exultantly, and they almost crashed into each other. In the aftermath, Nancy stumbled back struggling to regain her balance, while Mike hastily hid something - whatever he had been looking for - behind his back. For a moment the instinct to demand something - an apology, an explanation, to know whatever it was he was hiding - had the words slipping out of her mouth. She caught herself, though. With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, she hissed "hurry up!" and stormed back upstairs to the living room, passing by her mother without saying a word. 

 

***

It was the first time any of them visited the Byers since Will had left the Hospital. Somehow, after all the unimaginable things that had happened in the last few weeks, something as ordinary as a home visit felt eerily unreal. Nancy had seen Jonathan at school, the day before, and it had been awkward. It was like neither of them knew what to do with their hands, but on a much larger scale. She had wanted to ask the right questions, but hadn't known the right words. He had wanted to answer but hadn't known how. Instead, he had asked her to come over and, of course, she had agreed. She hadn't meant to make such a big deal out of it, but her mother had stepped into her plans and turned it into an "event". At least there were no casseroles.

***

Eleven tried the blue dress first. It was a little similar to the yellow one, the one Mike had given her and that had been destroyed after - but this one was prettier, to Nancy's taste. It had little white frails under the hem and white heart-shaped buttons. Nancy had been sad to outgrow it. It was a good thing El could have it. 

The girls were trying clothes in Jonathan's room, since Jonathan had moved in with Will to give Eleven her own space. Eleven hadn't changed the decoration much, though Joyce had given her some pink bed sheets and there were candles on the end table. The girl turned around, looking at herself with a small smile. Nancy smiled at her, and asked encouragingly, "Do you like it?" Eleven nodded, and ran her hands through the fabric, feeling the texture. "It looks good on you. I bought shoes that match with it, too."

"Thanks," Eleven said, sitting on the bed and searching the bag of clothes between them. She pulled out another dress, orange and embroidered, and then a pair of jumpers. She touched the jumpers with exploring fingers, then picked up the dress to try on.

"Do you like dresses better?" Nancy asked, curiously. Eleven had been wearing some of Will's clothes when they arrived at their house. 

"They are so soft," Eleven said, and then elaborated, "I didn't have anything soft before."

"Oh." Nancy felt stupid and insensitive, "I probably have even more somewhere in my home, i just need to look for then. We could go out shopping, too."

"It's okay. These are plenty." she spoke softly, still touching the embroidered dress, "Everything is so plenty here."

"What is it like living with Joyce?" Nancy asked, folding her legs under herself. Joyce had made it back from the Upside Down clutching Will's body so close to her heart they might as well have been one single being. But after they were in the hospital, she looked after after Eleven, as if she too were her child. Eleven had a mother, somewhere, but she had wanted to live with Joyce as soon as joyce had asked. 

Eleven shrugged and smiled. "We made waffles yesterday. Jonathan helped. It was nice." She looked out of the window into the woods behind the house. "Will is nice too. We talk."

About what, Nancy felt she shouldn't ask. They sat side by side for a while, looking away to the trees and the darkening sky. A few birds came flying out, cawing, and Nancy was startled by the noise. She almost didn't hear when Eleven asked, "Do you miss her?"

"What?" Nancy asked, "Who - oh. Barb." The blank pain she felt every time she thought about her best friend came rushing to the surface. "You're talking about Barbara."

"I wanted to bring her back. I really did, I tried to..." 

"Of course you did!" Nancy turned in place to look at Eleven more directly. The girl was looking at her hands, which were slightly shaking. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were red. Nancy shifted closer, instinctively. Her tone changed, "El, you did all you could. It wasn't your fault."

"I was too late. She was... she was... "

Nancy pushed the tote bag out of the way with one hand, pulling Eleven into a hug with the other. Eleven only hesitated for the shortest of seconds, before letting herself be held. Nancy felt strangely protective of her. She didn't think she would ever not feel heartache for the loss of Barb, but in that moment, none of it mattered. She just wanted to make Eleven understand that nothing - not a single bit of what had happened - had been her fault.

"El, you did so much. You saved us all, you. If you hadn't been there, Will, and Mike, and me, and all of us really, we wouldn't be here. We couldn't fight the monster on our own."

"If I hadn't opened the portal -"

"You didn't. Their experiments did. They were the ones messing with energy and dangerous things, it was not you El." Nancy felt her shake. "It was not your fault."

"But I have the Power. _I_ have the Energy." Maybe she _was_ crying now. 

"What you have makes you special. It doesn't make you evil, not if you chose to use your powers to help others." Of this Nancy was certain - Having the ability to do harm was very different from choosing to do so. Dr Brenner hadn't had any special powers, but even so he had managed to hurt countless people. To be evil was a choice he had made, one Eleven never would make. "You are good, El, I promise."

Eleven nodded, and said nothing.

***

Not even a minute later, Mike barged into the room without knocking, hands covering his eyes.

"Are you still trying on clothes? Mom wants to cut the cake and have tea." He glanced warily through his fingers, and let his hand drop, horrified, "Nancy! You made her cry!"

She huffed. "Don't be stupid, Mike. We're talking. Get out."

Mike pouted and crossed his arms, not moving an inch. "Na-ah. You've talked forever already, and anyway, I want to talk to Eleven too."

Nancy watched her little brother for a few seconds, and then at Eleven. The girl nodded, again, so Nancy got up from the bed and moved to the door. 

"We'll talk more soon, okay?" she asked Eleven, and Eleven smiled and agreed. 

Nancy moved out of the room while Mike fished something - whatever he had torn his room apart for - from his pockets. Before closing the door, she heard him whisper, almost in awe, "You look _very_ pretty."

**Author's Note:**

> What does Mike have for Eleven? Who knows ;)


End file.
